| Issues of physician assistant (PA) vocational satisfaction are wide open for exploration, primarily because the profession itself is relatively young. A mailed survey approach was utilized to examine the factors that PAs feel are important for vocational satisfaction and to identify the vocational personality of PAs as measured by Holland's Self-Directed Search ( SDS) Form R. With a survey response rate near 50%, PAs were shown to be highly satisfied with their careers, specialty choices, and jobs. Twenty-one factors for vocational satisfaction and 29 for dissatisfaction were identified. The PA Holland profile was identified as SIRAEC, with the overall three-letter code SIR statistically tied for the first two elements. Gender differences showed that men had significantly higher realistic components than women, even within the surgical and family or general practice specialties.; Implications of the study may extend into formal career counseling to guide individuals considering entry into the PA profession, as well as new PA graduates, and PAs considering a job change in hopes of bringing about increased vocational satisfaction. |
